Dazzling

Qing Ye buried her head, nibbling on the corn. With every swallow, her throat tightened painfully. She knew all too well what returning with her father would mean. There were still so many things left unsaid to Xing Wu, so many decisions yet to be made. Everything had happened too suddenly—so abruptly that her thoughts were tangled in chaos, her eyelashes trembling violently.

The pot had been boiling for a long time. Li Lanfang hurriedly got up to check the stove, and Qing Ye could no longer hold back her tears. Reason and emotion clashed relentlessly, driving her to the brink of madness.

After turning off the stove, Li Lanfang came out of the kitchen and said to Qing Ye, "There's food in the pot for dinner. If you don't want to stay with your dad, just eat by yourself. I'm heading to the hospital—the old lady's acting up again these past couple of days. It just never ends."

She went inside to change her shoes, and when she came out, she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, right, Qing Ye! It seems Xing Wu has some unpaid money. People haven't been able to find him these past few days, so they asked me to go collect it quickly. There's something about verifying numbers and signing—I don't really understand it. If you have nothing to do later, why don't you go pick it up for him?"

Qing Ye slowly lifted her head and looked at her. "Where is it?"

Li Lanfang pulled up a text message on her phone to show Qing Ye and said, "It probably isn't much money. Just keep it for yourself after you collect it."

With that, Li Lanfang rushed off to the hospital. Qing Ye stood up from the doorstep. The afternoon sun still scorched the earth, and the air was thick with dryness. Qing Ye had never liked this kind of climate, but during her time here, she had grown somewhat accustomed to it. Perhaps it was because this was Xing Wu's home—even the rows of self-built houses, the bumpy streets, and the small shops at the crossroads felt familiar. It was as if just breathing the air here made her feel that Xing Wu was still by her side. Maybe, with a simple turn, he would suddenly appear before her and say, "I'm back."

But once she left this place and returned to her father's side, the future would become a complete unknown. If they ended up living in different places, how could their lives ever intersect again?

It was like two people standing at a crossroads, destined to take separate paths. Whether they would be together again in the future, and how long it would take, had all become uncertain.

Lost in thought, she walked out to the intersection and hailed a taxi, giving the driver the address. As the car sped up, the scenery outside the window shifted from familiar to unfamiliar. Before she knew it, Qing Ye had arrived at a place she had never been to before. Sand blew in through the window and into her eyes, so she quickly closed it and rubbed them. Outside, dust swirled in the air. The streets were barren on both sides, and from time to time, large trucks roared past, kicking up even more dust.

The taxi stopped under a large, dusty gate, and the driver told her this was Badakou. Qing Ye paid and got out, stepping through the grimy entrance. As far as she could see, the place was vast, with goods scattered haphazardly everywhere. Men in dirty, disheveled clothes were all around, and trucks constantly weaved through the area, rumbling loudly as they rolled over the steel plates on the ground. A minivan charged recklessly toward her, startling Qing Ye into quickly stepping aside.

At first glance, the place resembled a large logistics distribution center or a storage facility, but it was far more chaotic and disorganized. A clean, well-dressed girl like her stood out, drawing curious glances from all around.Qing Ye quickly approached a man who looked relatively honest and asked where the Tianda Finance Office was. The man, with a grimy towel hanging around his neck, pointed backward and shouted, "Go all the way to the end, turn right, and look for a red building."

The voice was so loud it made Qing Ye's ears ring, but she thanked him repeatedly and followed the direction he indicated. She had initially expected a decent-looking building but passed by twice and had to ask someone nearby before finally realizing the prefab structure was the so-called finance office.

Qing Ye entered and stated her purpose. The middle-aged woman inside pulled out a large, yellowed ledger, found Xing Wu's name, and tossed it to Qing Ye, saying, "Sit over there and check it yourself. If everything's correct, sign at the back."

Qing Ye thanked her and sat on a plastic chair by the window. The ledger was filled with densely packed names, and she found Xing Wu's entry. The time records were clearly marked—it was for piece-rate wages from March. Judging by the work hours, he had put in six or seven hours daily, sometimes even more.

Suddenly, Qing Ye flipped the ledger forward and quickly found the records for February and January. December's entries were no longer in this ledger, so she couldn't determine exactly when Xing Wu had started working here. But where did he find the time? How could he spend five or six hours here every day?

Then, something occurred to her—the driving school. Xing Wu had told her he went to practice driving every day. When had that started? Qing Ye thought back and realized it seemed to be not long after Shunyi closed down that Xing Wu mentioned he had enrolled in a driving school.

So, after the New Year, he hadn't returned until nine or ten at night. During the period when her tutoring classes resumed, Xing Wu was even busier than she was, sometimes coming back later than her. She had noticed he was often covered in dirt and knew he was taking on odd jobs outside—something he'd done before, like fixing networks for companies or maintaining machinery at factories. But she never imagined he would end up doing manual labor in a place like this.

A sudden chill ran through Qing Ye's body. She lifted her head and looked out the cramped window at sun-tanned men carrying massive cargo boxes on their shoulders, bent under the weight. Beads of sweat dripped incessantly from their foreheads. The truck was piled with countless such boxes, and one man stood atop the vehicle, nearly three meters high, moving boxes down under the scorching sun, unable to straighten his back for what seemed like ages.

Qing Ye was still wearing long sleeves, but these men were already shirtless, sweating profusely. Nearby, a young man squatting against the wall to eat his meal was called away to carry goods after just a few bites. Older men cursed at him loudly. Even in this lowest rung of survival, oppression and hierarchy persisted invisibly.

The lunchbox lay discarded on the ground, the entire area shrouded in dust and a suffocating heaviness. It was chaotic, filthy, and filled with laborers operating like machines.

Qing Ye's heart suddenly clenched painfully. Over the past few months, Xing Wu had been just like these men—doing backbreaking, grueling labor, possibly even being ordered around like the young man earlier, taking on extra work, all for the numbers recorded in this ledger.

Many nights, she had felt the increasingly thick calluses on his fingertips and wondered, when would these days finally end?During that period, he had to cover his grandmother's medical expenses and nursing fees, purchase machinery for the factory, and gradually helped her acquire those not-so-cheap daily necessities. When she wanted to buy a dictionary, he directly transferred her the money.

And this money was earned through his relentless efforts in such harsh conditions. Qing Ye couldn't bear to look at the scene outside the window anymore. Suddenly, everyone before her eyes seemed to transform into Xing Wu. She could almost see him climbing to those dizzying, dangerous heights to unload cargo, sweating profusely under the scorching heat, bent under the weight of heavy boxes. She envisioned him squatting in that corner, surrounded by filthy garbage, picking at a boxed meal that looked utterly unappetizing.

Qing Ye buried her face in her palms, tears streaming down instantly. She had never realized that the life she brought upon Xing Wu would be so wretched. He shouldn't be like this—he shouldn't be doing these lowest-tier jobs. If it weren't for money, if it weren't for his desperate need to earn as much as possible, why would he ever end up here?

She didn't care at all—not about their current destitution, not about cramming into a motel room with him. From the moment she decided to gamble her future on their prospects, nothing else mattered.

But he had said he cared, which was why he worked himself to the bone, carefully hiding all his hardships and presenting only his most carefree side to her. Yet when Qing Ye stepped into this place, the truth tore open, brutally laid bare before her eyes.

He wasn't carefree—not in the slightest. She didn't even know whether she had brought him happiness or disaster!

It turned out the burden of his family had forced him to mature prematurely, bearing the weight of life's pressures at such a young age. And now, she had become one of his burdens too.

Three thousand two hundred yuan—that was Xing Wu's entire earnings from the half-month before the county sports meet in March. She even noticed that the person below him in the records had a monthly piece-rate income of just over four thousand. In this county where wages were so low, earning over three thousand in half a month—Qing Ye couldn't fathom how many heavy loads he must have moved to accumulate that amount.

When she left that place, she found herself on a long gravel road without a single vehicle in sight, only the occasional truck speeding past from the direction she came. Dragging her heavy steps, she wandered aimlessly.

The setting sun cast intense rays across the land, yet they seemed blocked by a layer of dust, veiling everything in an intangible haze. In the distance, sparse trees stood desolate, and occasional dilapidated mud houses, half-collapsed and abandoned, dotted the landscape.

Qing Ye followed the gravel path up a slope and around a mud house—then she froze. Before her stretched the vast, majestic Gobi Desert, ignited by the sunset as if set ablaze, burning fiercely between heaven and earth.

Her dim eyes suddenly lit up at this sight. She had inexplicably wandered to this very Gobi Desert where Xing Wu had brought her last time, as if destined by fate.

That day, under the boundless sky and radiant sunset, they had gotten together.

Back then, gazing toward where the earth met the horizon, she had asked him if he believed that someone you liked in high school could be remembered for a lifetime. She declared she wouldn't spend a lifetime remembering anyone—that she, Qing Ye, wouldn't be ruined by anything. At that moment, she had been so confident she could bring him light and drive away his darkness.But now, what had she brought him? Perhaps some sweetness and tenderness, but along with it came an even greater burden. She had never imagined that because they were together, Xing Wu would have to pay such a high price. He was only eighteen; he shouldn't have been buried in grimy, backbreaking labor day after day.

He had said that financial pressures had forced him to change the path he wanted to take. Such bullshit had happened to him far too many times. What right did she have to let these same struggles continue falling on him just so she could pursue her own dreams?

Gazing at this vibrant, blooming land, Qing Ye suddenly felt a sense of release. She smiled silently, and as she smiled, tears began to flow. She would leave this place, leaving the factory to Xing Wu. Though it wouldn't earn much, it would be enough to cover his grandmother's monthly hospital bills. He wouldn't have to struggle for a living anymore or worry about her tuition fees. This was their best choice.

Some say the person you liked in high school is someone you remember for a lifetime. It was only today that Qing Ye truly understood the meaning of those words. Back in high school, they were like the tiniest specks of dust in the world, floating in the air, unsure of where they would eventually settle. Without thick feathers or sturdy wings, so many people lost each other in the ups and downs of life. That's why the sincerity they once shared became an indelible memory in their hearts.

But a lifetime is long. She still had plenty of time and many things she could do. She was no coward, so she would not stand still.

Qing Ye turned around and took one last look at the dazzling Gobi Desert, then took out her phone and called her father.